Glucose is a major secretagogue for insulin secretion from pancreatic beta cells and has been a subject of extensive study for several decades. However, the information on glucose dependence of the activation, activity, and deactivation phases of beta cell responses is scarce. We utilized confocal calcium imaging in acute mouse pancreas tissue slices to study the concentration dependence of glucose-induced responses in large populations of beta cells. Beta cells respond to glucose within a narrow and physiological concentration range. At least three parameters appear to code the glucose concentration in beta cells: (i) recruitment of beta cells, (ii) advancement of their response and (iii) amplification of their activity, each with its own coding properties [1]. Moreover, applying advanced analytical tools from complex network theory, we demonstrated that communities (i.e., functional subcompartments) exist within beta cell populations. These change with the stimulus concentration from highly segregated under low stimulatory conditions to more integrated functional networks under high stimulation [2]. Moreover, we utilized these methodological approaches in a mouse model of western diet-induced obesity, characterized by signs of the adult onset type 2 diabetes, in search for potential changes in stimulus-secretion coupling [3].

Jurij Dolenšek obtained his PhD in 2007 working on fish olfaction at the Department of Biology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He spends most of his research employing electrophysiological methods and calcium imaging in mouse pancreas and adrenal tissue slices. He is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Slovenia. Currently, he is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. In his spare time, he likes running, cycling, snowboarding, playing squash, badminton, and playing with his children.